John Barclay of Perth Amboy : the scion of an illustrious house

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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL
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JOHN BARCLAY OF PERTH AMBOY
The Scion of an Illustrious House

BY MILTON RUBINCAM,* WASHINGTON, D. C.

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy; the scion of an illustrious
house, by Milton Rubincam ... ^Washington, 1940j

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-from July and October Issues, Proceedings of the New
Jersey historical society.” 'b~v-b- o ^ , J 4 */ 0
Bibliographical foot-notes.

1. Barclay family. 2. Barclay, John, 1650-1731.

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- - - proceedings Nezv Jersey Historical Society

white gum which oozes'tnM»4]iele^ also eaten.

Great quantities of the dried by the
Indians and stoi^d-^farHuture use. FamisheJ^drite^avelers
and India^Hiunters would often live for many days on the^Tmt
afrdstems of the opuntia.

(To be continued)

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JOHN BARCLAY OF PERTH AMBOY
The Scion of an Illustrious House

BY MILTON RUBINCAM,* WASHINGTON, D. C.

The old Province of East New Jersey was peopled exten¬
sively by Scottish pioneers. Many of their family names are
identical with those borne by distinguished families in Scotland,
but the precise connection, if any, is not always ascertainable.
On the other hand, contemporary evidence linking immigrants
with the main stocks in the Mother Country has occasionally
been preserved in New Jersey records, with the result that
accurate genealogies extending in some instances back to the
twelfth century may be drawn up. A recent case is that of
Thomas Gordon, Chief Justice of New Jersey.* 1 On the other
hand the eminent historian of East Jersey, Whitehead, has
asserted that the immigrants, John and Archibald Campbell,
were the sons of Lord Neil Campbell, Governor of East New
Jersey, who descended from the ancient and noble House of
Argyll.2 But there is no evidence for this statement. Lord Neil’s
issue are known. He was the father of four sons and five
daughters. Among the sons was an Archibald, who, it is true,
was an East Jersey landowner, but he never settled permanently

♦Corresponding Secretary, Natonal Genealogical Society. '

1 Milton Rubincam, “The Honorable Thomas Gordon: Attorney Gen¬
eral and Chief Justice,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Soci¬
ety, July, 1939, pp. 147-150.

2William A. Whitehead, Contributions to the Early History of Perth
Amboy and Adjoining Country (1856), p. 22.

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy

203

in the country, afterwards became a Bishop of the Episcopal
Church of Scotland,3 and died in 1744, forty-two years after the
death of the other Archibald Campbell of East Jersey. Lord
Neil had no son named John. Thus, any claim the present
representatives of these two brothers might make to a descent
from the House of Argyll would be based upon a false assump¬
tion.4

The Barclays of East Jersey are among the more fortunate
families, for their immigrating ancestor represented one of the
oldest houses in Scotland and was a brother of Robert Barclay,
The Apologist, Governor of East Jersey. The Governor’s
ancestry has been thoroughly searched out and documented,5 but
to dispel all doubts that may arise concerning the authenticity
of the descent of the American family from the great Scottish
House of Barclay, the following calendar of evidences is pre¬
sented, proving the relationship of John Barclay of Perth
Amboy to Governor Robert Barclay, the son of Colonel David
Barclay, Laird of Urie :

1684, July 10: Deed. Robert Barclay, Governour and
one of the Proprietors, to his brother John Barclay for 500
acres of the first division of 10,000 acres.6

1684, - - : Power of attorney. Andrew Jeffery of

Kingswells, Scotland, to John Barclay, son of David Bar¬
clay of Urie, as land agent in East Jersey.7

1685/6, Jan. 18: Confirmatory Patent to John Barclay
of Amboy Perth, for 700 acres, 500 thereof being for the

3Sir James Balfour Paul, Lyon King of Arms, The Scots Peerage,
vol. I (1904), p. 360.

4An investigation is planned to determine, if possible, the true par¬
entage of John and Archibald Campbell, of East Jersey. Persons who
possess original documents or other source-material that may shed light
on the problem are cordially invited to communicate them to the writer.
Due credit will be given for assistance rendered.

5A History of the Barclay Family, Part I by Rev. Charles W. Bar¬
clay (1924), Part II by Lieut-Col. Hubert F. Barclay (1933), and Part
III by Lieut. -Col. Hubert F. Barclay and Alice Wilson-Fox (1934).
For the sake of convenience, this monumental work will be referred to
hereafter as Barclay Fam. Flist.

GNezv Jersey Archives, 1st series, vol. XXI, Calendar of Records, p.
66. This great source work will be referred to in the notes as NJA.

7NJA, XXI, p. 182.

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204 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

like quantity purchased from his brother Robert Barclay,
the other 200 being headland for himself and six servants.8

1688, May 1 : Power of attorney. Andrew Galloway of
Aberdeen, Scotland, merchant, to John Barclay, second son
of Colonel David Barclay, of Urie, as “actor, factor, com¬
missioner and special errand bearer in East Jersey.9

1731, April 29: Obituary. “From Amboy we hear, that
last Week died Mr. John Barclay, Post-master there. He
was Brother to the famous Robert Barclay}0

The Barclay family is said* 11 to have been of Norman origin,
and to have migrated from England to Scotland soon after the
Conquest, in the retinue of the Saxon princess, Margaret, who
was on her way to wed Malcolm III (Ceannmor), King of
Scots.12 The family grew and prospered in their new home,
acquired immense landed possessions, and ranked high among
the Scottish armigerous families. Chief among the main stock’s
offshoots were the Barclays of Towie, Gartly, Collairnie, Kil-
birnie, Ladyland, Pierston, Mathers, and Urie. A representa¬
tive of the Pierston line was Sir Robert Barclay, who was cre¬
ated a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1668. His eighth lineal de¬
scendant is the present head of the House of Pierston, Sir Col¬
ville Herbert Sanford Barclay, 14th Baronet.13

Alexander de Berkeley, seventh in direct descent from the
founder of the Scottish family of Barclay (formerly Berkeley),14
married, in 1351, Katherine, the daughter of Sir Edward Keith,
and sister of Sir William Keith, hereditary Marischal of Scot¬
land, who bestowed upon his sister and her husband the lands
of Wester Mathers as a wedding gift.15 The succeeding twelve
generations of the Mathers line were relatively undistinguished.
They maintained their position as landed gentry, and married
into families of equal rank.

*NJA, XXI, p. 76.

*NJA, XXI, p 201.

10NJA, XI, Newspaper Extracts, I, p. 243.

11 Barclay Fam. Hist., 1, pp. 13 14
12Ibid., II, pp. 5-6.

13Burke,s Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, p. 21 1. A discussion
of some of the numerous foreign ramifications of the family will be
found in the Genealogical Notes at the conclusion of this article.

14 Bar clay Fam. Hist., I, charts on pp. iii, iv.

15Jbid., II, pp. IS3-I54-

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy

205

Keith, who presented him with a son, Captain James, and a
daughter, Anne, who was the wife successively of Douglas of
Till i whilly, Robert Irvine (brother of the Laird of Drum), and
the Rev. David Strachan, afterwards Bishop of Brechin.

The third son by the first wife, Colonel David Barclay (1610-
1686), upheld the military traditions of his house by his distin¬
guished services as a soldier. In his youth he served in the
Swedish army under the great King Gustaf (II) Adolf. For
his gallantry in the battle of Liitzen — in which the mighty Scam
dinavian hero and champion of Protestantism lost his life — he
was commissioned a captain.16 After attaining the rank of major
in the Swedish army, he returned to Scotland in 1638, owing to
the unrest that was rapidly sweeping his native land. He entered
the Parliamentary Army, in which he became a colonel. He
commanded a troop of horse in the battle of Philiphaugh, near
Selkirk (September 13, 1645), in which the great Royalist gen¬
eral, James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, was disastrously
beaten.17 This day, which ordinarily would have been one of
great rejoicing for Colonel Barclay, was turned into a day of
mourning, for his younger half-brother, Captain James Barclay
(who served in his regiment), lost his life.

In December, 1647, Colonel Barclay married Katherine, the
daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet, of Gordonstoun.
This was a most illustrious match, one that reacted favorably
on the fortunes of this almost impoverished branch of the Bar¬
clays. Sir Robert Gordon (1580-1656) had been created the
premier Baronet of Nova Scotia on May 28, 1625, and, in addi¬
tion, the Crown had granted him an estate of 16,000 acres on
the coast of Nova Scotia, “which was erected in a full and free
barony, called the barony of Gordon, with power of regality.”18
During the next few years Sir Robert had acquired a number
of estates in Elginshire and elsewhere, and on June 20, 1642, he
had them all united into the Barony of Gordonstoun. He is
chiefly remembered for his great work, the Genealogical History

1GBarclay Fam. Hist., Ill, p. 3.

l7The Historians’ History of the World , vol. XX, “The History of
England,” p. 39.

18 Dictionary of National Biography, vol. XXII, p. 225. To be known
as DNB.

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206 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

of the Earldom of Sutherland, from its Origin to the Year 1630,
which Gilbert Gordon of Sallach continued to 1651.

By his fortunate alliance with Katherine Gordon, Colonel
Barclay united his family with some of the most powerful clans
in Scotland. The Gordons had been influential in national and
international affairs since the twelfth century, but the branch
of which the new Mrs. Barclay was a member had occupied the
earldom of Sutherland since the early part of the sixteenth cen-
'tury, as the lineal heirs of the original House of Sutherland,
which had become extinct in the main line in 1514. Her great¬
grandfather, John Gordon, xoth Earl of Sutherland, married for
his second wife, Helenor Stewart, daughter of John, 3rd Earl
of Lennox,19 a cadet of the royal house of Scotland, which
ascended the throne of England in 1603. Their son, Alexander,
the nth Earl, married (secondly) the Lady Jean Gordon,
daughter of George, 4th Earl of Huntly, and they were the
parents of Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonstoun. Sir Robert’s
wife, Louise, daughter of John Gordon, D.D., was a great-great-
granddaughter of James IV, King of Scots, who gave up his life
while fighting valiantly on the bloody field of Flodden in 15 13. 20

The year following his marriage to Katherine Gordon, Colonel
Barclay acquired an estate of his own, Urie, in Kincardineshire,
of which he became the first Laird. Through the influence of
the noble House of Sutherland he was elected a member of
Parliament for Sutherlandshire in 1649, a°d later for the shires
of Angus and Mearns.21 Several years after the restoration to
the throne of the House of Stuart in 1660, he was imprisoned in
Edinburgh, no doubt because of his former associations with the
Parliamentarians, but was released through the intercession of
his good friend, John, Earl Middleton.22 While in prison he
became interested in the doctrines of the Society of Friends, and
in 1666 he openly espoused Quakerism. His newly-adopted
religious convictions were sufficient to land him in prison again,

which they did in 1668. His petitions for liberty were ignored

— ~

10The Scots Peerage, vol. VIII, p. 342.

20For proofs of the royal descent see the Genealogical Notes following
the article.

21 Barclay Fam. Hist., Ill, pp. 35-36.

22 DNB, III, p. 168.

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

20 7

because he refused to sign a bond to keep the peace, and he was
confined in the tolbooth23 at Montrose. His confinement was
not very strict, however, and he was permitted to retire to his
home at Urie, his leave there being extended at various times,
and on August 23, 1670, he was granted his full liberty.24

Colonel David Barclay and Katherine Gordon were the par¬
ents of three sons and two daughters, namely : Robert, John
(afterwards of Perth Amboy), David, Lucy (unmarried), and
Jean (married Sir Ewen Cameron, Laird of Lochiel25). The
eldest son and heir, Robert Barclay, received his education in
France and Scotland, and became proficient in the use of the
French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues. For a time it was
feared that, under the influence of an uncle and namesake who
was a priest in France, he would turn Catholic, but eventually
he realized the merit of the Quaker faith and was not long in
joining his father as a member of the Society of Friends, of
which he became one of the most noted champions. Like his
father, he was imprisoned for his convictions, but on January
2, 1673, the Privy Council of Scotland set him at liberty.26 He
was the author of numerous works, but his masterpiece was An
Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the same is held
forth and preached by the People, in scorn, called Quakers,
which was originally published in Latin in 1675. but has since
undergone numerous English editions. It is unquestionably the
finest exposition of the principles of the Society of Friends that
ever has been presented to the public, and has won immortality
for Robert Barclay as The Apologist. Since February, 1670, he
had been married to Christian, the daughter of Gilbert Mollison,
of Aberdeen, and as a wedding gift Colonel Barclay gave the
Urie estate to Robert and his bride, but the aging soldier con¬
tinued to reside there from time to time until his death, which
occurred in 1686. Thus, long before he would normally have

23In Scotland the tolbooth is the city jail.

24The Regisetr of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd series, II, pp.
424, 428, 432-433, 457, 565; HI, PP- 13, 51- (Hereinafter referred to as
Reg. P. C. Sc.).

25For an account of this turbulent Highland warrior, see the Genea-
logcal Notes, at the end.

26Reg. P. C. Sc., IV, p. 1.

2o8 Proceedings Nezv Jersey Historical Society

The eleventh and last Laird of Mathers, David Barclay (1580-
1660), was forced to dispose of his estates in order to fulfill his
many financial obligations. He was twice married, his first wife
being Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Livingston, of Duni-
pace, by whom he had four sons, John, Alexander, David, and
Robert ; and his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Alexander
inherited the property, The Apologist became the second Laird
of Uyie.

As a close personal friend of William Penn, Barclay became
naturally interested in the colonization schemes of the great
English Quaker, and he and his younger brother, David, were
quickly enrolled among the proprietors of East Jersey. On
March 14, 1682-83, “his Royal Highness the most illustrious
Prince James, Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, &c.
only Brother to our Sovereign Lord the King,” was pleased to
grant the Province of East New Jersey to twenty-four pro¬
prietors, headed by James, Earl of Perth, his brother, the Hon.
John Drummond of Lundy (afterwards Viscount Melfort),
“Robert Barclay, of Eury, in the said Kingdom of Scotland,
Esq,” and “ David B archly, jun. of Eury, aforesaid, Esq.” The
other Scottish proprietors were Robert Gordon, of Cluny, and
Arent Sonmans,27 of Wallingford. Then followed the names of
the English proprietors, the first on the list being that of “ Wil¬
liam Penn of Worminghurst, in the County of Sussex, Esq.”28
On July 17, 1683, the proprietors elected Robert Barclay Gov¬
ernor of East Jersey, to hold office for life.29 There were too
many matters engaging his attention at home to permit him to
take up a residence in the colony, with the result that he ap¬
pointed Gawen Laurie to serve as his deputy in the province.30
But the real chief executive was Governor Barclay.

John Barclay, the second son of Colonel David Barlcay, be¬
came as interested in the Quaker experiments as his brothers,
and probably about 1684 he emigrated to East Jersey. On April

27For the story of an attempt upon the life of Robert Barclay and the
fatal assault upon Arent Sonmans, see the writer’s article, “The Strange
Career of Peter Sonmans,” Procs. N. J. Hist. Soc., October, 1939. P- 236.

28NJA, 1st ser., I, pp. 383-384.

20Ibid.f I, 423-424.

30Ibid., I, 423-425-

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy

209

21 of that year, Robert Barclay deeded to his brother, David,
one-tenth of a one-forty-eighth share in East Jersey.31 A record
of December 1, 1684, shows that John Barclay brought the fol¬
lowing servants into the province : indentured for four years,
John Browne, shoemaker, and John Salton, tailor; indentured
for two years, Gawen Murhead (Muirhead ?), John Garner,
and John Harper.32 Original papers which are now preserved
in the archives of the New Jersey Historical Society show that
John Barclay acted as land agent in East Jersey for Robert
Gordon, of Cluny, and Robert Burnet, of Lethenty, Scotland,33
among others. In 1685, David Barclay, Jr., sailed from Aber¬
deen aboard the ship America , of Stockton (Captain Vivers,
master), but he died at sea in the latter part of August. His
share of the province reverted to Governor Robert, who deeded
it to his brother, John, on March 8, 1686-87. He authorized
John to act as his land agent in America.34 Earlier, on Janu¬
ary 4, 1685-86, John had been granted letters of administration
on the estate of his brother, David.35

Robert Barclay was a great favorite of the Duke of York,
who succeeded Charles II as King in February, 1685. The
candid opinion of the new monarch, James II, was frankly ex¬
pressed in a letter dated at Whitehall, July 16, 1685, and ad¬
dressed to the Marquess of Queensberry, Lord Treasurer of
Scotland :36

i

“Tho’ I haue not great reson to be well satisfyed with the
Quakers in general, yet I look on this bearer, Robert
Barkley, to be well affected to me ; so that I would have you
shew him what countence is reasonable, and not lett him
suffer for the faults of others of his perswation, which is all
I shall say now.”

3Hbid., XXI, p. 69.

S2Ibid., XXI, p. 62.

33“Unpublished Scots East Jersey Proprietors’ MSS.” ( Procs . N. J.
Hist. Soc., Jan., 19 22, pp. 11-12; April, 1922, pp. 1 19- 120).

34NJA, 1st ser., XXI, p. 308.

35Ibid., XXI, p. 69.

3GGreat Britain: Historical Manuscripts Commission, 15th report: The
MSS. of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury , K. G., K. T.,
Preserved at Drumlanrig (1897), vol. I, p. 215.

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Proceedings Nezv Jersey Historical Society

About this time Governor Barclay was making plans to in¬
crease the population of his province, and one way of doing it
was to transport prisoners overseas. The Privy Council of
Scotland, consisting of the Lord High Chancellor, the Lord
High Treasurer, the Marquess of Douglas, the Earl of Drum-
lanrig, the Earl of Panmuir, the Earl of Kintore, the Viscount
Tarbut, the Lord Livingston, the Lord Advocate, the Lord Jus¬
tice Clerk, and the Lord Castlehill, was in session at Edinburgh
on July 30, 1685, when a petition was received from Robert
Barclay of Urie, stating that the supplicant

“hes immediately lying on the road at Leith a ship bound¬
ing for East New Jerseye in America, and seeing there are
severall prisoners now in the prisons who are troublesome
to the government to maintain, therefor humbly supplicat¬
ing the Councill to allow the number of tuentie four of them
to be transported by the supplicant to the said plantation on
his finding surety in the ordinary termes and releiveing the
government instantly of the trouble of them. The Lords of
his Majesties Privy Councill, haveing considered the for-
said petition, doe allow the petitioner to have tuentie four
of these persons sentenced to the plantations upon the cau¬
tion thereby ordered.37

The next day the Council ordered the prisoners to be deliv¬
ered to Barclay, and named them as follows :38

“George Young, Robert Cameron, John Gib, James
Stewart, John Suan, James Olipher, John Jackson, Coline
Campble, John Campble, Gilbert Ferguson, prisoners in the
tolbooth of the Canongate; John Gilliland, Archbald Jame-
. son, William McIlroy, William Brenan, Thomas Richard,
prisoners in the tolbooth of Edinburgh or in the Laigh
Parliament House ; William Thomsone, Malcom Black,
Alexander Grahame, Donald Moore, John Nicoll, John
McCallum, John McKello, Duncan McEwan, prisoners in
Pauls Hospitall.”39

31Reg. P. C. Sc., 3rd ser., XI, p. 127.

38Ibid., XI, pp. 130-131.

39Possible descendants of the above-named 24 persons should not be
embarrassed at the revelation that their families were founded by inmates
of Edinburgh’s principal jails. Although the cause of their incarceration
is not stated, it is very likely that they were not imprisoned for crimes
of violence, but for religious reasons.

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy

211

In this same year (1685) King James formally confirmed the
Barclays’ possession of the Barony of Urie. John Barclay, who
was then in New Jersey, was not overlooked in the summary of
the succession to the estate. This imposing document is too
long to be quoted in its entirety in this place, but the intro¬
ductory remarks are of interest :40

“Our Soveraigne Lord with advice and consent of His
Estates of Parliament ffor the good and faithful Services
done and performed to His Majesty and His most Royal
progenitors By Colonel David Barclay of Urie and Robert
Barclay his eldest Lawfull Son In times past by thir pres¬
ents Ratifys approves and perpetually confirms ane Chartor
Dated at Windsore Castle the therteenth day of August
Im vjc* seventy nyn yeares Granted by His late Majesty
King Charles the Second of ever blessed memory wherby
H is Highness with consent of the Lords of the Thesaury
and Exchequer of His ancient Kingdom of Scotland His
Majesties Commissioners for the time Gave Granted
Disposed and for His Highness and his Successors per¬
petually confirmed to the said Collonel David Barclay in
Liferent during all the days of his Lifetime And to the said
Robert Barclay his Son and aires Lawfully procreat or to
be procreat of His body whilks failing to John Barclay
Second Lawfull Son to the said Collonel and aires Lawfully
to be procreat of His body whilks failing to David Barclay
youngest Lawfull Son to the said Collonel and aires of His
body whilks failing to Lucie and Jean Barclays Lawfull
Daughters to the said Collonel (all procreat betuixt him
and Catharine Gordon his Spouse) be equall portions and
aires of their body. . .

John Barclay participated actively in the affairs of East Jersey
almost from the first day of his settlement there. On April 14,
1687, he, with the other leading proprietors, Thomas Gordon,
Robert Fullerton, Thomas Warne, Andrew Hamilton, and
Gawen Laurie, commissioned Samuel Winder, John Campbell
and Miles Forster to confer with the Governor of West Jersey
relative to running the line between the twin provinces of East
and West Jersey.41 On January 1, 1688-89, he was appointed
to the post of Deputy Surveyor of the Province, to serve under

40The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. VIII (1820), p. 531.

4XNJA, 1st ser., II, pp. 1-2.

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212 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

the celebrated George Keith, the Surveyor.42 On January 7,
1692, he became Receiver-General, and on April 6, 1692, the
proprietors in England appointed him Receiver-General and
Surveyor-General. On the reverse side of his commission was
written the oath taken by him :

“I the within named John Barclay doe hereby Solemnly
promise to beare true allegeance to King William and
Queen Marie43 King & Queen over England &c theire
heires and Successors, and be true and faithfull to the
interest of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of East
New Jersey and to theire heires Executors & assignes, and
I will endeavour the peace and welfare of the said Province
And I will well and faithfully discharge the office of sur¬
veyor generall in the said Province, And doe equall Justice
unto all men according to my best skill and Judgment with¬
out corruption favour or affection witness my hand this
first day of the month called November 1692. ”44

On November 2, 1692, he was elected a member of the Gen¬
eral Assembly for Perth Amboy,45 and on December 1, 1698, he
was reelected as a representative of Middlesex County.46 Other
offices held by him prior to the union of the twin provinces of
East and West Jersey were: Deputy Secretary and Register of
the Province (November 25, 1695), Commissioner of the Court
of Small Debts (May 4, 1696), Register of the Court of Chan¬
cery (August 6, 1698), Commissioner of the Court of Small
Causes (December 1, 1698), and Clerk of the Court of Common
Rights or the Supreme or Provincial Court of the Province
(February 5, 1699). 47 Towards the close of the century he was
Town Clerk of Perth Amboy, for on April 25, 1699, we find him
signing (in that capacity) a letter addressed to the home govern¬
ment relative to the questionable conduct of Jeremiah Basse,

42R. Burnham Moffat, The Barclays of New York: Who They Are and
Who They Are Not (1904), p. 16. (Quoting Liber C of Commissions.)

43James II, the royal friend and relative of the Barclays, had been de¬
posed in 1688, and was succeeded by his son-in-law and daughter, William
III and Mary II. His other daughter, Anne, was fated to be the last
monarch of the adventurous House of Stuart.

“NJA, II, 81-84.

*5Ibid, XXI, 159.

™Ibid., XXI, 162.

47Moffat, supra , p. 1 6.

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

213

who had been Governor of East and West Jersey since 1697.48
On June 19, 1701, he was one of the East Jersey proprietors
who surrendered the Government to the Crown.49

Meanwhile, Barclay had been undergoing a change of reli¬
gious convictions, and at the dawn of the eighteenth century he
completely departed from the fold of the Society of Friends and
became an avowed Anglican. In 1702 his friend, George Keith,
another renegade Quaker who had recently been ordained a
minister of the Church of England, returned to America as a
missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts. On Sunday, October 3, 1702, he delivered a
sermon at Perth Amboy. John Barclay was among the leading
East Jersey proprietors who attended the services. The story
is best told in Mr. Keith’s own words :50

“I preached at Amboy in East-Jersey; the Auditory was
small : My Text was Tit. 2.11,12. But such as were there,
were well affected ; some of them, of my former Acquaint¬
ances, and others who had been formerly Quakers but were
come over to the Church, particularly Miles Foster,51 and
John Barclay (Brother to Robert Barclay , who published
the Apology for the Quakers) the Place has very few In¬
habitants. We were several Days kindly entertained by
Miles Forster at his House there. ”

Barclay afterwards became prominent in the affairs of St.
Peter’s Church at Perth Amboy, and held the positions of
Warden from 1718 to 1722, and Vestryman from 1730 to 1732. 52
To this day the names of George Willocks, Thomas Gordon, and
John Barclay may be seen engraved on the tablet of the bene¬
factors of St. Peter’s, on the east wall behind the pulpit.53

Queen Anne, who succeeded her brother-in-law, William III,
in 1702, appointed as the first royal Governor of New Jersey her

48NJA, II, pp. 273-275.

49Ibid., II, pp. 387-390-

50George Keith. A Journal of Travels from New Hampshire to Cara-
tuck, on the Continent of North America (1706), pp. 50-51.

*xi.e. Forster.

52Rev. W. Northey Jones, M.A., The History of St. Peters Church in
Perth Amboy. Nnv Jersey, The Oldest Congregation of the Church in
the State of New Jersey (1923), p. 178.

53 Jones, supra, “The Chalice of Queen Anne” ( Procs . N. J. Hist. Soc.,
July, 1917, p. 155).

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214 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

first cousin, Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, whose adminis¬
tration (1702-08) is chiefly memorable for his bitter opposition
to the proprietary party and the formation of his own anti¬
proprietary party, of which Peter Sonmans, Jeremiah Basse, and
Roger Mompesson were leading lights. The great Scottish
families of East Jersey deemed it expedient to ally themselves
with the powerful Quaker clans of West Jersey, and thus came
into existence the celebrated “Scotch & Quaker factions,” as
they were called at the time. Of the former, Thomas Gordon,
John Barclay, Dr. John Johnstone, and George Willocks were
the chieftains, while the Quakers were led by such outstanding
men as Samuel Jennings, Thomas Gardiner, and John Hugg, Jr.

The first consideration of the home government was to ap¬
point a Council to serve as the upper house of the Legislature
and to act as an advisory body to the Governor. In 1702 the
Earl of Nottingham, one of the principal Secretaries of State,
submitted a list of proprietors who were believed well qualified
to serve in that capacity. Then followed a list of thirteen pro¬
prietors who were declared to be unfit for that exalted station,
“as being of the Scotch & Quaker Tactions concerned sundry
years in ye divisions & incendiary parties, that has brought those
Provinces into such Confusion of Governm1. Injustice to ye
Proprietors and aversion of ye Planters & Inhabitants.” The
name of Lewis Morris, “ye Head of ye Taction,”54 headed this
secondary list, which included the names of Samuel Leonard,
George Willocks, John Barclay, Michael Harden, Thomas Gor¬
don, John Johnstone, and others.55 It is apparent that Corn-
- bury’s supporters were carefully discriminating in their selec¬
tions of his advisers.

The first General Assembly of the new Province was elected
in 1703, and in the lower house, at least, the proprietors secured
a majority which chose Thomas Gordon as the first Speaker.
John Barclay served in this Assembly, which formally convened
at Burlington, September 7, 1704. 56 Prior to this time he had

54Morris, the acknowledged leader of the Scottish proprietors, was of
Welsh extraction, and belonged to a powerful proprietary clan of the
province, of New York, with many interests in New Jersey.

55NJA, II, pp. 487-488.

56Samuel Smith, The History of the Colony of Nova-Caesaria or Neiv-
Jersey (1765; reprint, 1877), p. 283.

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:uiuii A OiOfi >

John Barclay of Perth Amboy 215

received the commissions of Receiver-General and Ranger-Gen¬
eral of New Jersey (June 9, 1704). 57

Barclay’s commission of Receiver General, which had been
granted by the Proprietors, was approved by the Governor,
who later revoked it and gave the post to his faithful hench¬
man, Peter Sonmans. Barclay obstinately refused to surrender
his own commission and boldly defied them to supplant him
in this office (1706). William Dockwra, Secretary and Reg¬
ister of the .East Jersey Proprietors, addressed a memorial to
the Government on February 14, 1706, declaring, with con¬
siderable heat, that “the unruly Scots and those of their fac¬
tion, who are the informers of the memoriallists here against the
Lord Cornbury”, opposed Sonmans’ commission as Receiver-
General. He stated that Sonmans’ appointment was upheld
by Cornbury and the Council, but “were these factions Pretend¬
ers so perverse and insolent as to incite one Barclay, a Scotch
man, to persist in receiving the Quit-rents, etc. of the Propri¬
etors, he being one of their tools.”58

On October 24, 1707, the then Speaker of the House, Samuel
Jennings, in a ringing voice delivered an historic address to
His Excellency, in which he vigorously and daringly assailed
the policies of the administration. The Governor was reminded
that he himself had signed Barclay’s commission and that he
possessed no authority to transfer the office of Receiver-Gen¬
eral and the custodianship of the proprietary records to Son-
mans, as such an act would be contrary to the wishes of the
Proprietors.59

Barclay himself drew up a formal remonstrance, reciting
his grievance on this score, and accused Cornbury of withhold¬
ing his (Barclay’s) commission “most unjustly and Malic¬
iously”, and he proved that a second commission had been
issued in his favor in 1706 by the London proprietors, and
concluded. “Mr Barclays first Commission was under the
hands and seals of A greater Number of Proprietors than Mr.
Sonmans sd Commission was.”60

57Mbffat, supra, p. 16 (quoting Liber I of Commissions).

58 Calendar of State Papers Preserved in The Public Record Office,
London. Colonial Series, America and West Indies: 1706-1708, June,
PP- 50-51.

50NJA, 1st ser., Ill, pp. 132, 253-254.

60Ibid.t III, pp. 331-332.

{To be continued )

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254 Proceedings Nezv Jersey Historical Society

JOHN BARCLAY OF PERTH AMBOY
The Scion of An Illustrious House

BY MILTON RUBINCAM,* WASHINGTON, D. C.

( Continued from page 215)

At this time Sonmans was at the peak of his rascally career,
and his actions received the complete encouragement of Lord
Cornbury. But the latter’s heyday was rapidly drawing to
its close, and the nobly born Governor’s recall paved the way
for the much needed reforms planned by his successor, John,
Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley. Barclay’s friend, associate
and distant kinsman, Thomas Gordon, who had been shorn of
his honors, was restored to his proper place in the govern¬
ment, and was promoted to the high post of Chief Justice. On
March 18, 1708, he addressed himself to the new Governor,
delivering a stinging indictment of Sonmans, accusing him,
among other things, of having

“advised and procured the arresting of Mr John Barclay
on Whitsunday last, coming out of the Church from the
Sacrament, which is a manifest breach of the Peace, and
contrary to the Laws in that case made and provided, and
must tend to the discouragement of Religion, and the Pub-
lick worship of God, if Persons can’t be secure at the Altar
in the most Solemn Acts of Worship.”61

In his reply, dated April 14, 1709, Sonmans defended the
legality of his act by pointing out that Barclay had refused to
answer a bill filed in Chancery against him, and had “stood all
the contempts of the said Court for above a year, mostly shelter¬
ing himself in your Excellency’s Government of New York.” A
Commission of Rebellion was therefore executed against him,
and his arrest on a Sunday was quite proper, inasmuch as he
had been considered a rebel.62

Lord Lovelace’s untimely death gave Lieutenant-Governor
Richard Ingoldsby, one of Cornbury’s clique, control of the
situation. He deposed Gordon as Chief Justice and restored

^Corresponding Secretary, National Genealogical Society.

61Jbid., Ill, p. 375.

62Ibid., Ill, p. 421.

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*

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

255

Mompesson. John Barclay was promptly arrested, on the
charge of tampering with the provincial records.63 Barclay
was imprisoned for failing to answer the bill in chancery men¬
tioned by Sonmans, from June 3, 1708, until March 12, 1709. 64

Ingoldsby’s regime abruptly came to an end with the appoint¬
ment of the just and fair-minded Governor Robert Hunter, a
Scottish soldier who had seen active service on Europe’s bat¬
tlefields. In a letter dated from Perth Amboy, “9br Ist 1710”,
John Barclay discussed the preparations for the reception of
the new Governor. The person to whom he addressed his
letter is unknown, but he was evidently an official of high rank
in the Province of New York. Barclay touched upon his own
personal problems, and pleaded for assistance in warding off
the charges brought against him by Col. Daniel Coxe, one of
Cornbury’s former supporters :

“ . I am also Informed that Coll. Coxe has lately

expressed himselfe very maliciously Against me telling how
severely I ought to be dealt with & showing the Evidences
they have taken against me so that if he & Mr Sonmans
* * * of my Judge at the next Supream Court I must be
expected to be prosecuted as if I had done what they accuse
me off out of designe & for a reward — therefore I begg
you to use all the means you cann that if its possible I may
not be so violently prosecuted. as one should be that hadd
been guiltie of an ill thing on purpose I think you told
me you thought the Cheefe Justice would not be so severe
upon me so I leve it to your selfe to mention me to him
or gett any one Else to do it as you see cause or if you
think it convenient for me to confess the matter of fact so as
I was really ledd Into it & what advice you can give me In
this unfortunate affaire I wish you could send it me either
in writing or by word of mouth by Mr Raygneere65, who
is my friend.”66

Mr. Barclay must have had some doubts about his complete
innocence in the matter, since, as the above extract indicates,

™Ibid., XIII, p. 364.

64Edwin P. Tanner, Ph.D., The Province of New Jersey: 1664-1738
(1908), p. 617.

Regnier.

G6NJA, 1st ser., IV, 13-14. The original is in the N. Y. Col. MSS.,
Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y., vol. LIV, p. 90.

• ... n O'. rtf ■ <r sby/

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256 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

he believed it might be well to confess that he was led into
the matter. But in the fall term (1711) of the Supreme Court
he was tried and acquitted.67

On November 26, 1709, Barclay was recommended as a
member of Governor Hunter’s Council, along with Thomas
Gordon and others, “being Men of Estates & known Integ¬
rity.”68 He does not seem to have occupied that position,
although his friend Gordon was elevated to the Council, but
apparently he was appointed Clerk of the Governor’s Council,
for in a minute of January 21, 1714, we find a record69 of
“John Barclay Esqr now Executing the Office of Clerk to this
Board.” Other positions that he occupied were : Clerk of the
Peace and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the Coun¬
ties of Middlesex and Somerset (appointed Dec. 20, 1711,
re-appointed Jan. 21, 1714) ;70 Justice of the Peace for Middle¬
sex and Somerset Counties (commissioned Sept. 28, 1713,
re-commissioned Jan. 21, 1714) ;71 and Surrogate of the Eas¬
tern Division of New Jersey (appointed Aug. 7, 1716). 72 On
August 24, 1718, Perth Amboy was incorporated as “The
Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of
Perth Amboy”, by King George I. Barclay was named with
Gordon and others by His Majesty as being among the principal
inhabitants of the place.73 Barclay was elected the first Town
Clerk of the city of Perth Amboy, of which William Eier was
the first Mayor.74

The dosing years of the old gentleman’s life were passed
amid the peace and quiet that were denied him in his youth.
The end came in April, 1731, in his Perth Amboy home, and
was reported as follows by The Boston Weekly News-Letter
for May 6-13, 1731 :

67Tanner, supra, p. 491.

™NJA, III, p. 498.

69Ibid., XIII, Journal of the Governor and Council, I, p. 557.

70Mrs. Harry Rogers and Mrs. Alexander H. Lane, “Abstracts of New
Jersey Commissions, Civil and Military, from Liber A. A. A. of Commis¬
sions,” Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. VII,
pp. 1 55, 243.

1'lbid., VII, p. 237; VIII, p. 60.

72Moffat, supra, p. 16 (Liber C).

73 Whitehead, supra, pp. 50-51.

™Ibid., p. 53.

' •

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

257

u Philadelphia, April 29. Last Week died at Amboy
John Barclay Esq ; in an advanced Age, a pious man, an
excellent Neighbour, and of very great Service to the Pub-
lick, but more particularly where he lived, and is very much
lamented by all that knew him. He was a brother to
Robert Barclay, Laird of Ure in the Kingdom of Scot¬
land, the famous Quaker, who wrote Barclay’s Apology.”75

There has been much discussion regarding the identity of
John Barclay’s wife. Some descendants have held that she was
Cornelia Van Schaick ;76 others, confusing her with his mother
or his daughter-in-law, that she was Katherine Gordon.77 In
deeds of December 23, 1699, September 12, 1700, and Decem¬
ber 17, 1701, John Barclay’s wife is stated78 to have been
Katherine. There is a record79 of a Catharine Barclay as having
been buried at Amboy on January 6, 1703, and as we hear no
more of Barclay’s wife after that year we may conclude that she
died in January, 1703, and wTas laid to rest on the day stated.
It is known that they had at least one son, John, who was
born at Perth Amboy in 1702, and died at South Amboy, Feb¬
ruary 16, 1786, and who was married twice, firstly to Katherine,
the daughter of Charles Gordon, June 11, 1725; and secondly
to Jane Van Dyke, 1763. 80 No other children heretofore have
been found.

The writer would suggest the following clues to the possible
parentage of Mrs. Barclay, which likewise indicate that besides
John, Jr., there was another child, a daughter Agnes. On
March 21, 1714, George Rescarrick, of Cranberry Brook, Mid¬
dlesex County, New Jersey, made his will, in which he left
legacies to Agnis, daughter of John Barclay, and to Thomas
Gordon and his wife Janet (Barclay’s friends and relatives).81

75 NJA , XI, p. 243.

76 Compendium of American Genealogy (F. A. Virkus, editor), I. 967.
77Ibid., IV, 366; V, 632.

78NJA, XXI, pp. 306, 146, 320.

79John Edwin Stillwell, M.D., Historical and Genealogical Miscellany.
Data Relating to the Settlement and Settlers of New York and New
Jersey, vol. II (1906), p. 50.

80Moffat, supra, p. 57. The genealogy of the descendants of John Bar¬
clay, Jr., may be found in Moffat, pp. 57-65, and is fairly complete down
to 1904.

8 'NJA, XXIII, Abstracts of Wills, I, p. 381.

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258 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

On February 15, 1728-9, George Rescarrick (son of the above
George), of Perth Amboy, made his will, bequeathing a legacy
to John Barclay junior.81 Mrs. Barclay had died in 1703, so of
course she would not have been mentioned among the children
of the elder George Rescarrick in 1714. Her son, John Bar¬
clay, Jr., and his family resided at Cranberry. All this is purely
circumstantial evidence — but does it indicate that the wife of
that fine old Scottish aristocrat, John Barclay of Perth Amboy,
was, prior to her marriage, Katherine Rescarrick?

Genealogical Notes

(1) Foreign Branches : The house of Towie seems to have
been the parent stem of many foreign families of distinction.
William Barclay (1603-76), of this branch, entered the Swedish
service, rose through the ranks until he became a Colonel, was
ennobled in 1648, and was commissioned a Major-General in
the army in 1665. His line became extinct in 1707 on the death
of his grandson, Capt. Vilhelm Barclay.62

In 1621 the brothers Peter and John Barclay, of Banff,
described in a letter of safe-conduct as members of the same
family as the then Laird of Towie, Sir Patrick Barclay, Knight,
removed to the town of Rostock, in Livland (Livonia). John
afterwards settled in Norway, and his family resided there for
nearly three centuries, until the death of his last male represen¬
tative in 1 907. 63

John’s brother Peter was the ancestor of the Barclay family
of Russia. His descendant, August Wilhelm Barclay (1752-
- 1826), of Riga, was created a nobleman of the Holy Roman
Empire in 1792. This noble branch of the house of Barclay
became extinct with his son, George Wilhelm.84 His kins¬
man, Weinhold Gotthard Barclay (1734-81), a Livonian
Knight, had three sons. The eldest, Maj. Gen. Erich Johann
Barclay, was the father of Andreas Otto Heinrich Barclay
(1788-1851), who was created a Finnish Baron, but appar-

82Gustaf Magnus Elgenstierna, Den Introducerade Svenska Adelns
Attartavlor , I, pp. 232-233.

83 Barclay Fam. Hist., II, 239-240.

**Ibid., II, 280.

. .

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

259

ently he died without issue.85 Weinhold Gotthard’s second son
was the most distinguished member of the Russian branch,
Michael Andreas Barclay (1761-1818), Governor of Finland
in 1809. In 1813 Czar Alexander I granted him the title of
Count Barclay de Tolly,86 and on August 30, 1815, his ser¬
vices as a soldier were further recognized by his elevation to the
exalted dignity of Prince Barclay de Tolly. He held the high
rank of a Field Marshal in the Imperial Army. The title be¬
came extinct in 1871 on the death of his son, the second Prince,
Ernst Magnus, but it was revived the following year in favor
of the Von Weymarn family, which descended from a sister
of the first Prince.87 The present representative of the Russian
branch is Prince Nicholas Barclay de Tolly- Weymarn, who re¬
sides at his castle, Stenfors, near Tingsryd, in Sweden.88

(2) Barclay of Urie and Bury Hill : Robert Barclay, The
Apologist, Governor of East New Jersey, was born Dec. 23,
1648, and died Oct. 3, 1690. He married Christian, daughter
of Gilbert and Margaret Mollisom89 Mrs. Barclay died Dec.
14, 1722. Their children were: Robert (1672-1747), 3rd
Laird of Urie, m. Elizabeth Braine; David (1682-1769), of
London, m. (1) Anne Taylor, and (2) Priscilla Freame; John
(1687-1751), of Dublin, Ireland, m. (1) Margaret Wilson,
and (2) Anne Strettell ; Patience, m. Timothy Forbes; Cath¬
erine, m. James Forbes ; Christian, m. Alexander JafFray of
Kingswells ; and Jean, m. Alexander Forbes.90

In 1722 Robert, 3rd Laird of Urie, executed a “disposition
and deed of entail,” whereby he stipulated that the Barony of
Urie should be inherited in turn by the heirs of his sons and his

85Ibid., II, 284-285.

86“Tolly” is not merely a Russian corruption of the original “Towie”
but is a form that frequently occurs in ancient Scottish records. Towie
is near Banff, Aberdeenshire.

87The Marquis de Ruvigny, The Titled Nobility of Europe (1914),
p. 298.

88 Almanack de Gotha (1938), p. 397.

89Members of the Mollison family settled in East Jersey in 1684-5.

"Barclay Fam. Hist., Ill, 191. Among Governor Barclay’s de¬
scendants is Mrs. Katherine J. (Barclay) Dimsdale, of Meesden Manor,
Buntingford, Hertfordshire, England, mother of the Baron Dimsdale
of the Russian Empire, whose West Jersey ancestor was treated in the
author’s article, “Dr. Robert Dimsdale : Poineer Physician and Colonial
Legislator,” Procs. N. J. Hist. Soc., April, 1939, pp. 98-107.

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260 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

brothers, but, should their lines fail, the lordship was to devolve
upon his uncle, John Barclay, then in New Jersey, and his
heirs.91 His grandson, Robert (1731-97), the 5th Laird, as¬
sumed the additional surname of Allardice on the occasion of
his second marriage. His son, Capt. Robert Barclay-Allardice
(i779~i854), early in the 19th century secured a release of cer¬
tain lands from the entail of 1722 by an Act of Parliament and
the consent of the Barclay family of East New Jersey. A vast
amount of interesting correspondence passed between the rep¬
resentatives of the British and American branches, and these
documents are still carefully preserved in the Barclay Archives
at Bury Hill, Surrey.92 Capt. Barclay-Allardice had no male
issue ; his daughter Margaret, who was twice married, assumed
the name of Barclay-Allardice, and her descendants, who rep¬
resent the family in the female lines but still continue to bear
the nan>e, reside in Canada and the United States. The present
Chief of the House of Barclay is Lieut. Col. Robert Wyvill
Barclay, of Bury Hill, Surrey, England, a lineal descendant of
David Barclay, of London, the second son of The Apologist.

(3) Sir Ezven Cameron of Lochiel : In 1685 this gallant
Highland chieftain became the brother-in-law of John Barclay
of Perth Amboy by reason of his marriage to Jean Barclay,
who was his third wife.93 Perhaps the finest characterization
of him ever written was the following masterly description by
Lord Macaulay:94

. . Sir Ewan Cameron, of Lochiel, surnamed the Black,
was in personal qualities unrivalled among the Celtic princes.

91Moffat, supra, pp. 17-18.

92 1 bid., 17-40.

93His previous wives were : ( 1 ) Mary, dau. of Sir Donald Macdonald,
of Slate, 1st Bart, (no issue), and (2) a dau. of Sir Lachlan Maclean,
1st Bart. (3 sons and 4 daus., of whom the eldest was John Cameron,
18th Chief of Lochiel). Sir Ewen’s issue by Jean Barclay were: Ludo-
vick; Christian, m. Alan Cameron, of Glendessary; Jean, m. Lachlan
Macpherson, 25th Chief of Cluny ; Isabel, m. Archibald Cameron, of
Dungallon ; Lucy, m. Patrick Campbell, of Barcaldine ; Ket, m. John
Campbell, of Achalader- Una, m. Robert Barclay, 4th Laird of Urie;
and Marjorie, m. Macdonald of Morar.

®4Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the
Accession of James the Secotid (edited by Charles Harding Firth, M.
A.), vol. IV (1914), PP- 1597-1598.

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John Barclay of Perth Amboy 261

He was a gracious master, a trusty ally, a terrible enemy.
. . . Lochiel was tall and strongly built. In agility and skill at
his weapons he had few equals among the inhabitants of the
hills. He had repeatedly been victorious in single combat. He
was a hunter of great fame. He made vigorous war on the
wolves which, down to his time, preyed on the red deer of the
Grampians; and by his hand perished the last of the ferocious
breed which is known to have wandered at large in our islands,
. . . he was eminently wise in council, eloquent in debates, ready
in devising expedients, and skilfull in managing the minds of
men. ... In truth, the character of this great chief was depicted
two thousand five hundred years before his birth, and depicted
— such is the power of genius — in colours which will be fresh
as many years after his death. He was the Ulysses of the
Highlands.”05

It is strange that few historians have recognized the mighty
Sir Ewen Cameron as an extensive landowner in New Jersey.
His official biographer00 is silent on the subject, which is not
touched upon by the Barclay Family History, even in connec¬
tion with the Barclay holdings there, although he is frequently
mentioned in that work. The fact that Sir Ewen left no known
descendants in East Jersey probably accounts for Whitehead
overlooking him in his books on East Jersey and Perth Am¬
boy. Monnette is the only historian (so far as the writer is
aware) who does mention97 him as a proprietor, but he does
not describe his exploits. This is most unusual, for the late
distinguished chronicler of the Piscataway settlement rarely
missed an opportunity for detailed information regarding celeb¬
rities of the period treated in his work.

As a matter of fact, Sir Ewen became as intensely interested
in colonizing the province as his three brothers-in-law, Robert,

95For the story of Lochiel’s quarrel with the Duke of Gordon and how
his brother-in-law Robert Barclay, The Apologist, came to his aid, see
the Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron of Locheill, Chief of the Clan Cam¬
eron (Publications of The Abbotsford Club, Nov. 24, 1842), pp. 217-218,
222-228.

96The anonymous author of the Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron wrote
his work a few years after Lochiel’s death, but it was not published until
1842.

97Orra Eugene Monnette, B. A., LL.D., First Settlers of Ye Plantations
of Piscatau'ay and Woodbridae, Olde East New Jersey, 1664-1714, pt.
Ill, P- 347, Pt. VI, p. 1069.

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i$b*n9tr*’ r>s 3m- i^d nw/3 v< nrf k i itum a <U\

262 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

John and David Barclay, and he acquired numerous tracts of
land in East New Jersey, including 2000 acres in Middlesex
County, a town lot in Perth Amboy, and a parcel in Monmouth
County.98

(4) Royal Descent: John Barclay of Perth Amboy is one of
the comparatively few American immigrants with a proved
royal pedigree. The genealogy of the royal house of Scotland
is well known and may be verified in any standard history of
the country or of the family, but the following lineage from
Robert I to James IV is based chiefly on The Scots Peerage, I,
pp. 15-22. The descent from James IV to John Barclay is ac¬
companied by documentary evidence. The other royal families
given below are derived principally from C. M. Allstrom’s Dic¬
tionary of Royal Lineage in Europe (2 vols., 1904). So far as
the writer knows, this is the first publication (with proofs) of
the descent of the American family of Barclay from King
James IV.

1. Robert I (1274-1329), King of Scots (1306-29), of the
House of Bruce; m. (1) Isabel, dau. of Donald, 6th Earl of
Mar, by Ellen, dau. of Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, and
wid. of Malcolm, Earl of Fife.

2. Marjorie ; m. Walter, 6th High Steward of Scotland.

3. Robert II (1316-90), King of Scots (1371-90) ; the first
monarch of the House of Stuart (Stewart) ; m. (1) Elizabeth,
dau. of Sir Adam Mure, of Rowallan.

4. Robert III (1337-1406), King of Scots (1390-1406) ; m.
Annabelle, dau. of Sir John Drummbnd, of Stobhall.

5. James I (1394-1437), King of Scots (1406-37) ; m. Joan,
dau. of John, 1st Earl of Somerset (of the House of Beaufort),
grandda. of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and great-
grandda. of Edward III, King of England, of the illustrious
House of Plantagenet. Edward III was a son of Edward
II by Isabella, dau. of Philip IV, The Fair, King of France
(grandson of the celebrated King, St. Louis IX). Edward
II was a son of Edward I of England (d. 1307) and his first
wife, Eleonora, dau. of Ferdinand III (The Saint), King of

9SNJA, 1st ser., XXI, p. 81.

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263

John Barclay oj Perth Amboy

Castile and Leon." Ferdinand III was a descendant of the
most romantic hero in all Spanish history, Rodrigo Diaz de
Bivar, commonly called The Cid (d. 1099).

6. James II (1430-60), King of Scots (1437-60) ; m. Maria,
dau. of Arnulf, Duke of Gelderland, by his second wife Cathar¬
ine, dau. of Adolf II, Duke of Cleves, and his second wife, Maria,
dau. of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, a paternal grand¬
son of John II, King of France (d. 1361).

7. James III (1451-1488), King of Scots (1460-88); m.
Margaret, dau. of Christian I, King of Denmark from 1448
to 1481, of Norway from 1460 to 1481, and of Sweden from
1457 to 1464, and his wife, Dorothea, wid. of Christopher III
of Denmark, and dau. of Johann the Alchemist, Markgraf of
Ansbach-Bayreuth, and his wife, Barbara of Saxony, and
grandda. of Friedrich I, Elector of Brandenburg, of the House
of Hohenzollern. Johann the Alchemist’s wife, Barbara, was
a dau. of Rudolf III, Elector of Saxony, the son of Elector
Wenceslas, grandson of Elector Rudolf I, and great-grandson
of Elector Albrecht II, of Saxony, and his wife Agnes, dau.
of the German King, Rudolf I, Count of Habsburg (d. 1291).
This is believed to be the first discovery oj a New Jersey fam¬
ily's authentic descent from the founders of the later imperial
houses of Hohenzollern and Habsburg.

8. James IV (1473-1513), King of Scots (1488-1513) ;100
by his mistress, Margaret, dau. of John, 1st Lord Drummond,
had the following :

9. Margaret (called also Jane, in some accounts) ; m. John,
Lord Gordon, Master of Huntly, the son and heir of Alexander,
3rd Earl of Huntly, and his wife, Jean Stewart, dau. of John,
1st Earl of Atholl (d. 1512), and his first wife, Margaret, dau.
of Archibald, 5th Earl of Douglas, in Scotland, and 2nd Duke
of Touraine, in France (d. 1439), son °f Archibald, 4th Earl
of Douglas and his wife, Margaret, eldest dau. of Robert III,

"John Barclay of Perth Amboy was descended from at least four
“saints”: St Margaret of England (wife of Malcolm III of Scotland),
St. David of Scotland, St. Louis of France, and St. Ferdinand of Castile.

100King James IV’s lawful wife was Margaret, dau. of Henry VII
of England, by whom he had James V, wrhose dau. Mary Queen of
Scots wras the mother of James VI of Scotland (James I of England).

■

264 Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

King of Scots. John, 1st Earl of Atholl (above), was a son of
Sir James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn, and his wife,
Lady Joan Beaufort, wid. of James I. Her descent from Ed¬
ward III has been outlined above.101

Proof of the parentage of Margaret (Stewart) Gordon: 26
April, 1510, King James IV granted to John, Lord Gordon,
son and heir apparent of Alexander, Earl of Huntly, etc.,
and to his daughter Margaret Stewart , wife of the said John,
the lands and lordship of Badenoch, with the house and castle
of Ruthven in Badenoch, etc. (“Rex concessit Johanni Domino
Gordoun, filio et apparenti heredi Alexandri com. de Huntlie
&c, et filio sue Margarcte Stewart sponsi dicti Joli., — terras et
dominium de Baidyenach, cum domo et castro de Ruthven in
Baidyenach,” etc.)102

10. Alexander Gordon (d. 1575), titular Archbishop of Ath¬
ens ; Bishop of the Isles ; Bishop of Galloway ; the only Scot¬
tish prelate to joint the reformers (1560). 103

Proof that he was a brother of George, 4th Earl of Huntley,
and a son, therefore, of John, Lord Gordon, and his wife, Mar¬
garet Stewart: Oct. 14, 1544: “Ane Letter maid to Maister
Alexander Gordoun, bruthir germane to George, Earl of Hunt-
lie, his airis and assignais,” granting him certain lands, benefices
and churches in the Bishopric of Caithness.104 By a concubine,
Barbara Logie, he had :

11. John Gordon, D.D. (1544-1619), Bishop of Galloway,
in Scotland, and Dean of Salisbury, in England ; Laird of Glen-
luce, in Scotland, and Sieur de Longorme, in France.105

Proofs of his parentage: (1) At Edinburgh, 26 Sept., 1553*
Mary Queen of Scots gave letters of legitimation to John and

101See also The Scots Peerage, articles “Huntly,” “Atholl” and “Doug¬
las.”

102Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum : The Register of the
Great Seal of Scotland, 1424-15 13, p. 740, no. 3452.

103DNB, XXII, pp. 159-161.

104Registrum Secreti Sigilli Rsgum Scotorum : The Register of the
Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 144, no. 919.

10 5DNB, XXII, pp. 212-214.

John Barclay of Perth Amboy

265

Alexander Gordon, natural 106 sons of Master Alexander Gor¬
don. (“Regina dedit litteras legitimationis Joanni Gordoun et
Alexandro Gordoun bastardis, filiis naturalibus M. Alexandri
G”)107 (2) At Linlithgow, Dec. 8, 1585, King James VI con¬
firmed a charter of certain lands formerly held by Alexander
Gordon, Archbishop of Athens, to John Gordon , son of the said
Alexander. (“Rex confirmavit cartam factam per quon¬
dam Alex, archiepisc. Athenien. . . . Joanni Goirdoun . filio
dicti Alex.”)108

Dr. John Gordon married (2) 1594, Genevieve, dau. of Gid¬
eon Petau, Sieur de Maule, in France, and had :

12. Louise (called also Lucy) Gordon (1597-1680); m.
Sir Robert Gordon, 1st Baronet, of Gordonstoun.

Proofs of her parentage: (1) Will of her father, Dr. John
Gordon, Sept. 16, 1618: “In the Name of God the Eternail,
called in the Hebrew, Jehovah Elohim, ... I, Jean Gordon,
borne in Scotland, of the House of Huntly, Doctor of Divinitie.
and Deane of the Cathedrall Church of Salisburie, . . . refer the
disposition of all that I have in ffraunce, to the donation which
I have made heretofore to Geneviev Petaw, my loving wife,
and to Sir Robert Gordon, and Lucie Gordon, my only childe,
his wife; . . ,109 (2) Sir Robert Gordon’s own statement, writ¬

ten in the third person: “The yeir of God, 1613, the 16th day
of February, Sir Robert Gordoun (the Earle of Sutherland his
brother) mareid Louyse Gordoun, the only daughter and heyre
of John Gordoun, Lord of Longormes, and Dean of Sallisbury;
a lady then of the aige of 15 years and two moneths. . . . This

10t5This bit of documentary evidence proves conclusively that Arch¬
bishop Gordon never was lawfully married to Barbara Logie, as stated
by the DNB, XXII, p. 160, and The Scots Peerage, IV, p. 533. As addi¬
tional proof his dau. Barbara was legitimated on Nov. 6, 1553. (Reg.
Mag, Sig. Reg. Sc.: 1546-1580, p. 192, no. 858). Dr. John Gordon’s name
was inadvertently omitted as a son of the Archbishop in the Huntly
article in the Peerage, but was added in the “Addenda et Corrigenda,”
IX, p. no.

101 Reg. Mag. Sig. Reg. Sc.: 1546-1580, p. 190, no. 848.

108Ibid., 1580-1593, pp. 289-290, no. 900.

109Capt. Edward Dunbar-Dunbar, Social Life in Fortner Days (1865),
pp. 284-285, 289.

.

266

Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society

John Gordoun, Lord of Longormes, wes the eldest sone of
Alexr. Gordonn, Bishop of Galloway.”110

13. Katherine Gordon; m. Col. David Barclay, 1st Laird
of Urie.

Proof of her parentage: December, 1647: contract of mar¬
riage between “Major David Barclay, lawfull sone to David
Barclay of Maeteris,” and “maisteres Kathrein Gordune, eldest
lawfull docter to Sir Robert Gordune of Gordunestoune, Knycht
Baronet.”111

14. John Barclay of Perth Amboy, East New Jersey.112

(Editor’s Note — We regret that, due to a printer's error
discovered too late for correction, part of a paragraph in the
July installment of this article zvas misplaced. The first six
lines on page 208 should precede the word ‘‘Keith,” the first
word on page 205, leaving the seventh line on page 208 to fol-
lozv the last line on page 20 7).

STANHOPE FORGES AND FURNACES
SUSSEX COUNTY

BY MOSES BIGELOW, NEW YORK CITY

On Musconetcong River, about halfway between Brookland
Forge, at the outlet of Hopatcong Lake, and Andover Forge, at
Waterloo, one mile below the mouth of Lubbers Run; Jonathan
Dickerson built the “Upper Forge” at Stanhope, in 1780.

On a monument, in the burying ground of the Presbyterian
Church at Morristown, is this inscription :

“Peter Dickerson, member of the First Provincial Congress of
New Jersey, 1775, Captain of the 2nd Company, 3rd Regiment of
the New Jersey Brigade of the Revolutionary Army in 1776.
Whs born in Southold, L. I. in 1724, removed to Morris County
with brothers Thomas, Joshua, Daniel and one sister Elizabeth,
about 1745, and died May 10, 1780, in his 56th year.”

110Sir Robert Gordon, A Genealogical History of the Earldom of
Sutherland, p. 289.

11:lAlexander Gordon, “The Great Laird of Urie,” Theological Revieiv,
Oct, 1874, p. 537.

112The proofs of his parentage have already been given.

.